How do I update Ubuntu?

How to update Ubuntu? My advice is:

Don't bother!

The reason is that Ubuntu has many dependencies and removing and installing programs can lead to difficulites. 

I'v also found the Ubuntu after it has been updated becomes unstable especially when lots of programs have been installed.

For me, the best solution is to put a fresh copy of Ubuntu especially the long term releases.

There are some things you might want to do first though. For example if you are using firefox, you might want to save all your bookmarks. First, go to: 

• Bookmarks at the very top of the firefox window and select 
• All Bookmarks Now select the tab which says 
• Import and backup, then select 
• Export Bookmarks to HTML I prefer this to exporting bookmarks in another format. Now 
• Save the bookmarks on you external hardrive.

Another tip is to use only one folder for everything! So you can create a folder called 

• Backup and then create folders within it called 
• Home
• Desktop
• Downloads 
• music
• videos 

These are obviously folder I created to mimic the Default folders Ubuntu already has. Then I can simply move all contents into these folders, and then move the whole lot to another drive.

You should also note which programs you have installed in the software centre.

Another thing which should be done is copy passwords of Thunderbird and Firefox. It's probably best to write these down on a hard copy.

OK this system is a little time consuming but 

1. We now have a complete backup of all files in a separate drive which is very secure and we can copy them back to the new copy of Ubuntu.
2. Everything is now updated with the lastest configuration and
3. We are not mixing and older system files with newer system files.
4. The system has been tested thoroughly by experts in Ubuntu.

I do this every few months and I've never lost any data of had any issues with software and the system is always up to date.